Featured Quilt: Texas Horned Lizard

Texas Horned Lizard by Carol Jones Morrissey
62" x 44"

Click any image for detailed view.

A few years ago while walking through the International Quilt Festival in Houston, I came across this quilt that captured my heart immediately. Growing up in north Texas, I saw (and played with) many “horny toads”. They were a childhood favorite and they were abundant and easily found in my neighborhood. Over the years their numbers have significantly declined and this Texas state reptile is now listed in Texas as “threatened”. Their decline is not due to little boys capturing them for an hour or so before letting them back into the wild, but there have been concerns about their food source (insects) being taken away due to pesticides. Conservation efforts are underway. These amazing critters are generally docile and are an iconic part of the Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico. Carol worked from a photograph to create this amazing quilt which features raw edge appliqué and free-motion machine quilting. I love having this quilt in my collection. It hangs in my breakfast nook and makes me happy each time I see it.

Carol says, "The quilt was based on a photo taken by Dr. Shawn Billerman, an ornithologist and herpetologist. I found the photo online and was able to track down the source through his friend's blog post about their birding/herping trip in southeast Colorado. They were driving along very slowly and spotted something dart past, and realized it was a Horned Lizard. They stopped the car and ran after it to take photos. Dr. Billerman seemed surprised when I asked him if I could use his photo as a reference for a quilt! He seemed even more surprised when I sent him a photo of the finished quilt."

TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!